Abstract:

This thesis is the result of fieldwork done with Muslim communities in Belo Horizonte,
Rio de Janeiro and São Bernardo do Campo that tried to analyze how
Muslims in this community experience their believes compared to a larger society in
which they live. The option of studying three communities had here the main objective
to expand the field of research in order to understand the dynamics of these groups and
fundamental issues as accession identity and internal tensions. It was taken into
consideration in this study the differences between communities and the tendency to
universalize that this religion has been taking in Brazilian society. These communities
were basically composed of Syrians and Lebanese immigrants, so these were ethnic
communities, but in a period of just over a decade, they were reconfiguring from
conversion of Brazilians without Muslin background adhered to this religion. This
phenomenon of conversions to Islam is one of the common traits in these communities,
considered now mixed communities and not ethnic. This reconfiguration brought into
the dilemma of these communities identity, since conversions made by the new
members, concerns muslin religion and not Arabian culture. Islam in Brazil is structured
like one more religion therefore one more religious option, and presents itself as plural
reality, a fact that makes these communities socially dynamic in their relationship with
local society its making presence in the Brazilian religious scene. By observing the daily
life of these communities, it was evident the aspects of social life, such as the
relationship between immigrants and converts, building an identity and social structure
and politics.